RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS

STETSON UNIVERSITY

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Muslim activist charged

A search was conducted on 27 March in the apartment of the president of
the Islamic Committee of Russia, Geidar Dzhemal. As the TV channel
"Dozhd" broadcast, Dzhemal was charged under article 282 of the
Criminal Code, "Inciting hatred or enmity with debasing of the dignity
of a person or group of persons on basis of sex, race, nationality,
language, ancestry, religious affiliation, or membership in some social
group."

According to information of the television station, the search was
conducted by five agents of FSB. Dzhemal at first refused to open the
door demanding the journalist Maksim Shevchenko be present during the
search as a witness. After his arrival, the search continued.

As Dzhemal himself said on air on "Echo of Moscow," the search was
connected with some publications on his website, "Islamkom.org."

Not long before the search, the "Neva-24" website published an
interview with Dzhemal in which he said that a new revolution awaits
Russia in the near future. "The only way in which Russia can be saved
is to start with a clear sheet," he thinks.

In the second half of the day it became known that a search was
conducted in another of Geidar Dzhemal's apartments that he had
received as an inheritance from his mother. (tr. by PDS, posted 28
March 2012)

DOCUMENT: "OPENING OF CRIMINAL CASE MAY BE VIEWED AS PRESSURE BY
AUTHORITIES ON MEMBER OF OPPOSITION MOVEMENT."
Statement of Islamic Civic Charter in support of Geidar Dzhemal

The Islamic Civic Charter issues a decisive protest against repressive
actions by Russian authorities with respect to the famous public figure
Geidar Dzhemal, who is known for his defense of the rights and
interests of Russian Muslims.

Geidar Dzhemal isknown to wide circles of the Russian and world public
as a prominent Moscow intellectual and political philosopher. His main
efforts have long been primarily in the theoretical and intellectual
sphere and therefore by definition he cannot be considered a threat to
the lives and security of citizens of Russia and the interests of its
society.

In this regard, the opening of a criminal case against him on article
282 of the Criminal Code seems doubly obnoxious and may be viewed only
as pressure by the authorities on a member of the Russian opposition
movement in a series of other cases begun against representatives of
other ideological camps of the Russian opposition.

The Islamic Civic Charter demands that the persecution of Geidar
Dzhemal cease, just as that of other representatives of the Russian
public who are being subjected to repression on suspicion of violating
article 282. (tr. by PDS, posted 28 March 2012)

Evangelical preacher on trial in Kiev

As the newspaper "Segodnia" reports, the attorney for the victims of
the "King's Capital" financial pyramid, Ivan Bodnaruk, intends to
petition for separate reviews of the suicides of investors and for a
judge's decision.

"This is an article 120: inducement of suicide. During the debate I
will ask the judge, citing the testimony of relatives and witnesses, to
render a separate decision on bringing Sunday and other defendants to
justice," Bodnaruk said. The article provides for up to five years in
prison. "If we prove that this is inducement of suicide, they will be
given the maximum term, some for 12 years including Sunday and others
for 15 years," Bodnaruk says.

He says that desperate investors have laid hands on themselves.
"Vladimir V. hanged himself. He and his wife invested 16 thousand
dollars in 'King's Capital.' His wife says that what killed him was
that Sunday, who her husband thought was a holy man, could scam his own
people in this way," the attorney says. In addition he said that
earlier a parishioner from Kiev took pills for the same reason, another
died from a stroke when he learned about the collapse of the pyramid,
and a woman from Kiev province came personally to Adelaja and asked for
a return of money, but he refused her, after which she hanged herself.

There was also another similar incident. Sunday himself, as is known,
does not acknowledge his guilt and he thinks that the collapse of
"King's Capital" and the whole creation of the pyramid has nothing to
do with him. He says that he did not encourage anybody to invest and
that what his parishioners do with their free time is not his business.
Yesterday he was supposed to describe all of this in a regular court
session where it was planned to question him, but more civil suits
appeared from victims outside the country and therefore it had to be
postponed. "Only 10% of all victims of the fraud have sued. Many do not
believe that the money can be returned, some think Sunday innocent, and
still others attend his church. Half of the suits have already been
read. The defendants could be questioned, particularly Sunday, but some
of the victims are outside Ukraine and they want to be present. Of 40
of my clients, the minimum for moral damages is 300 thousand hryvnia.
Material damages are from $1,000 to $100,000," Bodnaruk says.

According to attorney Andrei Fedur, Adelaja will be questioned only a
year from now, since the case is being dragged out. The trial itself
may be dragged out another 2 or 3 years. "Look, the prosecutor has been
reading charges from last May to March. That's almost a year. Although
it could have been done in two weeks," Fedur says. (tr. by PDS,
posted 27 March 2012)

Patriarch condemns protest in church

Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill sharply condemned the action of
the "Pussy Riot" group in the church of Christ the Savior.

"We have no future if we begin mocking the great sacred things and if
this mockery falls on somebody's soul as a kind of heroism, as a
certain expression of political protest, as an appropriate action, or
as a harmless joke," the patriarch said on Saturday after the liturgy
in the Moscow church of the Deposition of the Robe.

The primate acknowledged that his heart was torn because among the
people who are justifying this blasphemy and minimizing it "there are
those who call themselves Orthodox."

Patriarch Kirill thinks that what happened is the machinations of the
devil. "Today we all are observing the Great Fast. The devil is mocking
all of us by imposing so many sorrows in these days when we are
supposed to distance ourselves from the worries of this world, immerse
ourselves in prayer, discipline ourselves by fasting, and repent for
our own sins," he said.

At the same time, the patriarch suggested that this trial may have been
sent to believing people during Lent "so that we realize our
responsibility for our land, for Sacred Rus, and for the Orthodox
faith." "This sense of responsibility is expressed by an Orthodox
person, first, in fervent prayer to God. These people do not believe
the power of prayer. They believe the power of propaganda, the power of
lies and slanders, the power of the Internet, the power of the news
media, and the power of money and weapons. We believe the power of
prayer," the patriarch emphasized.

He called the whole church "to earnest and fervent prayer for our
country, for our faith, and for our nation so that the Lord will
forgive us our sins and grant again his mercy upon us . . . so that
going through these trials and temptations we will come out of them
cleansed, strengthened, and able to build up our future in accordance
with God's law and human conscience." (tr. by PDS, posted 27 March 2012)

Members of the feminist punk group "Pussy Riot" declared that their
outrageous action in the church of Christ the Savior was intended to be
a defense of sacred things.

"Fervent and sincere prayer cannot be mockery and blasphemy, whatever
form it takes, and thus it is impossible to say the we desecrated
sacred things or that we mocked sacred things," says a letter from the
group to Patriarch Kirill, the text of which was posted on Monday in
the "Pussy Riot" blog. The letter is prefaced with a quotation from the
gospel: "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for
theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."

In this way the members of the musical collective responded to the
prelate's sermon delivered on Saturday which declared that "We have no
future if we begin mocking the great sacred things and if this mockery
falls on somebody's soul as a kind of heroism, as a certain expression
of political protest, as an appropriate action, or as a harmless joke."

The patriarch noted that the participants and the organizers of the
action "believe the power of propaganda, the power of lies and slander,
the power of the Internet, the power of news media, and the power of
money and weapons," while Orthodox people believe the power of prayer.

Meanwhile the members of "Pussy Riot" stated that the patriarch was
mentioned in their "punk prayer" in the church because he had permitted
the church "to become an instrument of dirty election campaign
intrigues."

"You are totally wrong in claiming in your sermon that we do not
believe the power of prayer because if we did not believe the power of
prayer and speech we would not have been praying in the church so
earnestly and fervently, anticipating the harsh persecution that could
fall on us and our loved ones from the weight of the repressive
apparatus of earthly authority," the letter says.

"Despite what you tried to convince the flock of during your sermon, we
believe only in the power of prayer, only in the power of art, only in
the power of speech, and only in the power of love for our friends and
neighbors, because there is nothing more for us to believe and we have
nothing more than our prayers and songs," the group stated.

It does not believe that it is possible to remain a Christian "and
demand imprisonment and savage punishment for those whose prayer sounds
differently and ascends in a uncanonical site." "We admire the humanity
and tolerance of Jesus, his ability to save and exalt a person, and all
of us must strive for this ideal, regardless of our faith. . . . We
will tell the world another 13 thousand times that our prayer cannot be
'mockery of great sacred things,' because we also prayed to the Mother
of God for protection of the sacred things of our land," the document
says. . . . (tr. by PDS, posted 27 March 2012)

Punk protest commotion continues

The State Duma of RF did not support the suggestion of a group of
deputies from the "United Russia" faction to request from law
enforcement agencies information about measures taken to hold
criminally liable the organizers of the "Pussy Riot" punk group action.

On Wednesday, United Russia deputies proposed that the Duma Committee
on Security be instructed to send an inquiry to the Investigative
Committee and the Prosecutor General regarding what measures that have
taken "for identifying and holding criminally liable the entire circle
of persons who participated in planning and producing the blasphemous
action in the church of Christ the Savior."

As noted in the draft of the protocol assignment, thus far there has
been no identification of persons "who were the real organizers of this
action as well as the workers who photographed it and helped carry the
equipment and conducted an interview with the participants in the
action, and then in every possible way spread information aimed at
discrediting the Russian Orthodox Church."

In the opinion of the authors of the document, there is sufficient
information in news media and the Internet "giving evidence of the
commission of a crime specified in article 282 of the Criminal Code of
RF, consisting of the incitement of religious enmity and strife."

During review of the question about this protocol assignment, the
vice-chairman of the State Duma Committee on Security, Ernest Valeev,
noted that the committee recommends rejecting the document. Having
emphasized that the committee shares the indignation over the crime, E.
Valeev explained that it is not possible to perform the assignment
since this violates the law on the status of deputies that forbids them
to intervene in the activity of investigation agencies, investigators,
and judges. (tr. by PDS, posted 22 March 2012)

Representatives of traditional religions of Russia called the action of
members of the punk group "Pussy Riot" in the church of Christ the
Savior blasphemy.

"What happened in the chief Orthodox church of the country, when a
group of women in masks and provocative clothing began dancing on the
platform, shouting words that are blasphemous and insulting to
Christians has profoundly disturbed believers of all our religious
communities," the statement of the council adopted at its session on
Thursday in the Moscow Choral Synagogue says. Participants in the
meeting emphasized that the action of these people is "not just
hooliganism; their goal is to incite hatred within society on religious
grounds." "We call the perpetrators of this atrocity to come to their
senses and make public apologies. We are sure that the act of these
people has touched the majority of the citizens of our country,
regardless of their convictions," the document says.

Having recalled that the cathedral church was built in the 19th century
and restored in the 20th century as a monument to the victory of Russia
in the Fatherland War of 1812, the members of the council noted that
200 years later the blasphemers repeated "those abominations that the
invaders of Moscow committed, turning the churches of the capital into
kitchens, stables, and alehouses." "We consider it true that this crime
should be considered as aiming at dividing society and inciting strife
among believers and nonbelievers. We are sure that it is necessary to
expose all organizers, participants, and possible sponsors of this
action. We hope that society and the courts will be able to find
appropriate measures for reeducating those who have gone wrong," the
statement of religious figures says. (tr. by PDS, posted 22 March 2012)

The Moscow Yabloko party has demanded release of the participants of
the "Pussy Riot" group that received a new batch of notoriety after the
action in the church of Christ the Savior.

"We condemn the hooligan action that was committed and that affected
the feelings of some believers. We think that the crime committed by
'Pussy Riot' is not grounds for imprisoning them," the statement of the
regional council of the Moscow division of the Yabloko party says,
which Interfax received on Thursday.

In the opinion of Yabloko, what has happened "once again demonstrates
that it is hardly possible now to speak of any kind of profound
liberalization of our law enforcement system."

The party does not rule out that such stern measures regarding the
girls, two of whom are mothers of small children, is "the revenge of
the authoritarian state and its individual representatives, who are
employing legal mechanisms as an instrument of repression in accordance
with personal motives."

Yabloko called law enforcement agencies and the courts to follow
strictly the principles of humane treatment of persons and citizens
along with the constitutional principle of the separation of church and
state. (tr. by PDS, posted 22 March 2012)

The head of the synodal Department for Relations of Church and Society,
Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, is praying for the members of the "Pussy
Riot" punk group and he intends to find out whether they have been
baptized.

"Tomorrow I will meet, if everything works out, if everything goes
well, with the attorney of these people, on their initiative, and I
would be interested in learning whether they have been baptized or
not," the priest said on Wednesday at a meeting with students of the
television faculty of MGU that was conducted by its dean, the famous
political scientist Vitaly Tretiakov.

"Many people will say, and I will say myself, that it is not necessary
to imprison these people for many years; That's too big a gift for
them. Many will say, and I will say myself, that we expect repentance
from them; if repentance occurs, attitudes change completely. I pray
for them. To be sure, I do not know whether they have been baptized,
but perhaps it will be possible to talk with their attorneys and learn
a bit more about them," the representative of the church hopes.

According to Father Vsevolod, he has already prayed for the "Pussy
Riot" members and if he learns that they have been baptized, he will
pray "even more earnestly."

As reported earlier, on 21 February the "Pussy Riot" punk group staged
an anti-Putin performance in the church of Christ the Savior, calling
it a "punk prayer." Police opened a criminal case on article 213 of CC
RF (hooliganism). Afterward three members of the group were arrested,
Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Ekaterina Santsevich. All
three will be in custody until 24 April. (tr. by PDS, posted 22 March
2012)

Attorneys Nikolai Polozov and Mark Feigin, who are representing the
interests of the detainees in the case of the "punk prayer" staged by
members of the "Pussy Riot" punk group, visited on 22 March the church
of St. Nicholas on Three Hills in Moscow, in which is located the
Department for Relations of Church and Society of the Moscow
patriarchate (OVTsOMP) and they talked with its chairman, Archpriest
Vsevolod Chaplin. Nikolai Polozov wrote about this on his "Twitter"
microblog, a correspondent of Portal-credo.ru reports.

Nikolai Polozov is representing Maria Alekhina, and Mark Feigin,
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (a.k.a. Tolokno), who sent through the attorney
a letter to Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin requesting that he visit her in
the Moscow SIZO No. 5, where she is being held by court decision until
25 April. According to Nikolai Polozov, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova asks Fr
Vsevolod to listen to her point of view on the "punk prayer," but she
does not indicate any intention of repenting or making confession to
the chairman of OVTsOMP.

Assessing the results of the meeting, Attorney Nikolai Polozov
notes: "The conversation was in a constructive key."

The data and time of Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin's visit to the SIZO
No. 5 will be announced subsequently.